With the weekend loss by England against the Australian Wallabies by 13 / 33 and effectively putting them well beyond reaching the Quarterfinals of the Rugby World Cup, there has been a lot of discussion and fallout regarding their coaching structures, squad selections, game approach and a lot of scribes and supporters baying for their blood.

England will now be the first Host Nation not to advance past the Pool stages in a Rugby World Cup.

We will summarise a look at how it hits England in the pocket, what their immediate reactions are, who leads the taunts against them, their public apology to their nation, the scars left by the defeat and early exit and whether their coach Stuart Lancaster will survive as England coach, to fight another day.

 

England to feel it in the pocket:

England was left reeling after crashing out of its own Rugby World Cup, with the country set to take an economic hit as well.

England suffered the humiliation of becoming the 1st Rugby World Cup host nation to bow out in the 1st Round after a 33 / 13 defeat to Australia at Twickenham ended their hopes of reaching the Quarterfinals.

And the disaster on the pitch could spill over into the wider economy as pubs, sponsors and advertisers miss out on bumper revenues – not to mention the escalating feel-good factor created when the host nation has a strong run in a tournament.

Rugby World Cup organisers insisted the competition as a whole would not be affected, with stadiums all but sold out right up to the final.

As England supporters and the legion of Australian ex-pats in London woke up nursing their hangovers, at the street level, the operation to sweep away memories of the match was under way.

Across swathes of districts along the route to Twickenham, where England and Australia rugby fans congregated to watch the game in pubs and bars, chips, spilt beer and vomit-stained pavements told the tale of a hectic night out.

But with England out, that buzz of activity and nightlife will now likely subside.

Professor Alex Edmans, of the London Business School, oversaw a long-term study on the effects of sporting defeats for 39 national teams in major tournaments.

“A rugby loss leads to a next-day (stock market) decline of 0.15%, which is roughly £3 billion ($4.6 billion, 4.1 billion Euros) for the UK stock market,” he said.

Simon Chadwick, a professor of sport business strategy and marketing at Coventry University, said the impact of England’s exit would be felt most profoundly through the drop-off of casual rugby fans.

“Any sporting competition in which the host nation doesn’t do well is always going to be exposed to some difficulties, and there is no reason to expect that things will be any different for England,” he said.

“There is a hard-core rugby fan-base in England that is unlikely to be put off watching rugby, so I don’t expect a massive drop-off in economic activity among English rugby fans,” he explained.

“Furthermore, there are still significant numbers of overseas fans here that are sufficient to generate a fairly buoyant economic benefit.

“However, it is among those people who are not normally interested in rugby and among members of the general public where we are likely to see the most acute drop-off in interest and economic activity.”

World Rugby president Bernard Lapasset insisted England’s elimination would not have an impact on the tournament as a whole.

“There will be no consequences for the organisation,” he said.

“We think there will be slightly fewer people in the fanzones. But the tickets for the matches are sold.

“Supporters from all over the world are in the country. And the English often have sentimental or family ties elsewhere in the world and perhaps they will support other teams,” the Frenchman added.

Indeed, the 3 other sides representing parts of the United Kingdom – Scotland, Wales and the all-Ireland team – remain in the tournament.

Australia’s No 8 David Pocock said it was hard to gauge whether the hosts going out in the 1st Round would have a negative impact on the tournament as a whole, though the England team might feel the sharp end of criticism.

“It seems like the English press is pretty ruthless, so that’s going to be tough,” he said.

“DisAUSter!” said The Sun newspaper, while The Sunday Telegraph’s front page said: “The dream of a nation is over”.

Many carried front-page pictures of England captain Chris Robshaw looking distraught, while columnists and former England players raked over how it all went so wrong.

 

England chiefs vow no ‘Hasty reaction’:

England rugby bosses insisted there would be no “hasty reaction” as to coach Stuart Lancaster’s future after the team’s Rugby World Cup exit at the hands of Australia.

That meant England’s tournament fate was decided in a mere 16 days, which also included last week’s agonising 28 / 25 ‘Pool of Death’ loss to Wales.

England’s defeat by Australia has led to intense speculation over the future of Lancaster and his assistants, Graham Rowntree and Andy Farrell.

Questions have also been posed regarding Ian Ritchie, the chief executive of England’s governing Rugby Football Union.

Last year Ritchie authorised the controversial decision to extend Lancaster’s contract to 2020 – beyond the next Rugby World Cup in Japan – rather than wait to see how things worked out at this tournament.

But Ritchie, in a statement on the national team’s website, said Sunday: “I would like to stress there will be no hasty reaction to England’s performance in this World Cup.”

England – backed by the world’s wealthiest union and with 1 of the largest playing bases in the global game – have finished 2nd in all 4 of Lancaster’s Six Nations campaigns.

That led to a stinging rebuke from Ritchie, who earlier this year said: “I don’t think that is acceptable at all.

“We should be, as a country, winning more, in terms of whether it’s Grand Slams or Six Nations Championships.”

But he was in a far more conciliatory mood on Sunday, saying: “Both as RFU chief executive and as a lifetime supporter of the England team I speak for so many by saying how disappointed we are at the losses to Wales and Australia, where hopes were so high that we could achieve something special.

“I would like to stress, however, that there will be no hasty reaction to England’s performance in this Rugby World Cup.

“Lessons will be learnt from the results and they will be found in a calm, clear, rational and thorough manner in the fullness of time post tournament.

“Developing professional teams capable of securing international success has always been, and continues to be, a key imperative in the RFU’s Strategic Plan.

“In the short term, however, the England team has a game to prepare for against Uruguay and everyone will give them their full support,” added Ritchie ahead of what will now be England’s last Pool A match, a ‘meaningless’ fixture against minnows Uruguay in Manchester this coming Saturday.

In the meantime, Ritchie played up the role of the RFU in “delivering the most inspiring and successful Rugby World Cup ever,” insisting it could help grow rugby union in its birthplace despite England’s group-stage exit.

“This is set to be the biggest world tournament to date, over a million people have so far seen games live, and I have no doubt that our investment of time and resources in creating a lasting legacy will see a step change in rugby enjoyment and participation across the country,” said Ritchie.

Meanwhile RFU chairman and ex-England captain Bill Beaumont said the players would be more disappointed than anyone else at being knocked out so soon from a Rugby World Cup on home soil.

“This is a group of young men who care deeply about representing their nation and their fans,” said Beaumont, the captain of the 1980 England side that won a Grand Slam in the then 5 Nations.

“Nobody will be hurting more than they are and, while they will expect an inevitable reaction, knowing that the rugby family is still there for them will really matter.”

 

Taunts, memes and public reaction:

David Campese never misses a chance to taunt England and he didn’t miss the open goal presented by them on Saturday.

Even sweeter for the Aussie wing legend was that it came in a 33 / 13 whipping by the present Wallaby generation at England’s now wobbly ‘fortress’ Twickenham.

“4 Years and that’s all England could do? Austrlia only needed a year! (since coach Michael Cheika took over) How easy was that,” tweeted the 52-year-old, who was player of the 1991 World Cup which climaxed with Australia beating England at Twickenham in the final.

Will Carling, who was captain of the side that lost to Australia in that final, had claimed during the week coach Stuart Lancaster had not left his former post as schoolmaster behind in the classroom and treated his players like schoolboys.

However, in the aftermath of the defeat he preferred not to fan the flames on Sunday.

“Whatever the reasons, very sorry that the England player’s dreams are over,” tweeted Carling, tellingly not including the coaching staff in his message.

Many former players and coaches from all nationalities called for Lancaster to be fired and also for captain Chris Robshaw – who was already a marked man for his decision not to go for goal, which would have tied the England Wales game at 28 / 28 the previous week, but for a match-winning try in the dying minutes – to be dealt with in similar fashion.

Others like 2003 World Cup winning flank Neil Back urged caution based on his own experiences.

“In 1999 we lost to South Africa in the Quarterfinals and many wanted Clive Woodward to be sacked,” wrote Back in his column for The ‘Independent on Sunday’.

“The RFU stuck with him, we became the best side in the world and everyone knows what happened in 2003 (England beat hosts Australia with a drop goal by Jonny Wilkinson in the last seconds of extra-time).

“We should let the dust settle, and then analyse whether Lancaster can do the same.”

However, Back added ‘it’s a horrible, unwanted slice of history – England have become the 1st host nation to exit a World Cup in the pool stages’.

“This is a disaster not just for the nation but the tournament as a whole. Both emotionally and financially, I am not sure if this Rugby World Cup can recover,” he remarked.

For his part Woodward was in restrained form compared to his braggadaccio act during the lead-up to the match where he had taunted the Aussies by declaring as a team ‘they are not the brightest’ and could ‘disintegrate’ if England kept hold of the ball.

“It has happened again – Oz team leaving Twickenham – they were just great tonight last week loss (against Wales) will haunt England,” tweeted Woodward, who famously taunted his critics back in 1999 and said he should be judged on that year’s World Cup which he survived despite the last 8 knockout.

Former England flyhalf Stuart Barnes, now a respected pundit in both the written press and on TV, said the English rugby team was staring into a dark hole.

“Yesterday was the day the talking stopped – no more excuses, no days of future past, the safety net was pulled from beneath Stuart Lancaster’s boys.

“The abyss was endless, the fall from grace awful.”

 

Rugby World Cup hosts England have been dumped out of the competition which sent Twitter into meme overdrive.

Following England’s 33-13 loss to Australia on Saturday, social media has not gone easy on the team which became the first hosts in the history of the competition to crash out in the pool phase.

Twitter’s reaction:

 

Apology for World Cup humiliation:

England coach Stuart Lancaster and captain Chris Robshaw issued abject apologies after Australia dumped the host nation out of the Rugby World Cup on Saturday.

Lancaster acknowledged that his future is now uncertain.

“I am gutted as we let the country down,” said Robshaw.

“As you can imagine the changing room is a very quiet place. We feel we let the country down today.

“As players we didn’t quite get there. We apologise to them. Australia played very well – but we’re gutted.

“Credit to Australia, we knew across the board that they would put us under pressure and they were good today.”

Lancaster and Robshaw had banked on the team bouncing back from a 28 / 25 defeat by Wales 7 days earlier. But they were put to the sword by Bernard Foley’s 28 points for Australia.

Australia and Wales are now guaranteed the qualifying spots from Pool A into the quarterfinals.

England’s humiliation was completed when 10 minutes from the end Owen Farrell was sent to the sin bin for a reckless tackle.

“The Yellow Card for Owen Farrell was tough, we started to build a little momentum but left ourselves a little too much to do. We felt we built up some pressure but credit to their defence,” Robshaw said.

Lancaster, who was awarded a new contract last year taking him up to 2020, also apologised.

“We’re gutted. And gutted for all the fans and everyone at home. Everyone put so much effort in but we’re sorry we let everyone down,” said Lancaster, who replaced Martin Johnson after England’s terrible 2011 World Cup in New Zealand when they went out in the Quarterfinals.

“The 1st half we went in 17 / 3 behind and I felt that was a tough scoreline. We got back into the game but in the last 5 to 10 minutes, after the Yellow Card, Australia dominated and deserved to win.

“We came up short last week against Wales and this week – that’s the bottom line,” said the coach.

“But there are some good players in this squad and I hope the nation stays behind them.”

Asked about his own future, Lancaster replied: “Will I be staying behind them as their coach? It’s not for me to say. I’ve just got to get them ready for next week.”

 

Lancaster – World Cup scar will never heal:

Stuart Lancaster insisted he will be permanently marked by England’s Rugby World Cup ignominy, even though his bosses said no move would be made to replace him.

Lancaster told of his personal pain as recriminations started over the 13 / 33 and 25 / 28 defeats by Australia and Wales that led to England becoming the 1st World Cup hosts to exit in the 1st Round stage.

“I’m the head coach and we didn’t get out of the pool. This is going to sit with us all forever – players, coaches, management,” Lancaster said in the aftermath of the stunning defeat on Saturday by the Wallabies.

“I don’t think I’ll ever come to terms with it personally because it was such a big thing.

“I’ve had some great moments coaching England and I’ve had some disappointing ones, but this pales everything else into insignificance because of what the tournament means to everyone.

“We lost 2 games, but they were crucial games and ultimately that let us down.

“It came down to the decision-making towards the end of the Wales game and some accuracy and execution at the end of the Australia game. That’s what we’ll be judged on and I understand that.”

Wales came back from behind to beat England while the Rugby World Cup hosts were hardly ever in the Pool A game against Australia that sealed their fate.

Lancaster became coach after England went out of the 2011 World Cup in the Quarterfinals. They have not won a Six Nations title since but Lancaster was given a contract extension until 2020 last year.

Former England captain Will Carling, who after the Wales defeat accused Lancaster, once a teacher, of treating the players as “schoolboys”, said it was clear a shake-up was required.

“I look at England in the last 4 years – we haven’t won a championship and we’ve had a poor World Cup,” Carling said on Sunday.

“Stuart Lancaster is a very likeable, admirable guy, but I sense we’ve hit a ceiling. We have some very talented players and, in order to move forward, we need to change the coaching set-up.”

British newspapers said the writing is on the wall for Lancaster and maybe team captain Chris Robshaw – under fire for attempting to get a winning try against Wales when his side could have had a penalty to tie the crucial match.

But Rugby Football Union chief executive Ian Ritchie said decisions could wait until after the Rugby World Cup.

“We need to be clear this is not a time for a knee-jerk reaction,” he said.

“Clearly we need to look at how we need to do things better in the future,” he added.

Ritchie was adamant there would be no relaxation of England’s policy of selecting only home-based players for Test duty.

England could have selected breakdown speciialist Steffon Armitage but the back row was not considered because he plays for European champions Toulon in France.

Australia softened their hardline stance before the Rugby World Cup and their final try on Saturday was scored by Matt Giteau, a Toulon teammate of Armitage.

“I think it’s very clear we all felt that was the right policy and we continue to feel it’s the right policy for rugby in this country,” said Ritchie, whose own job could be under threat like Lancaster’s assistant coaches.

Lancaster said now was not the time for him to quit, with England still having 1 ‘dead’ fixture against Pool A minnows Uruguay in Manchester on Saturday. That ends their World Cup campaign.

“It’s not the time now to make a decision like that. My priority is to get the team ready for Uruguay.”

Lancaster said his biggest regret was not beating Wales and that maybe the England team was too young for this Rugby World Cup.

“Australia had 750 caps in their starting team and we had 450 and we can go through the whys and wherefores of that, but we would have to go back to 2011 and the fact that we had so many other players over 30 in that squad,” he said.

 

(rugby365, Sport24 & Twitter)